Pros:

Cons:

The leering figure of the mighty Alexander the Great filled my monitor. "My numberless tanks will crush you!" he bellowed at me. Legend has it that the real Alexander wept when he realized that there were no more worlds left to conquer. There's no such problem with Civilization IV, the latest update to the classic strategy franchise: the worlds are infinite, and the means that you will use to crush each one will vary from game to game. This is what PC strategy is all about: hour after hour of interesting decisions and nail-biting conflicts. The single-player game alone is remarkable, but the addition of multiplayer (and yes, it actually works this time) puts it over the top.

If you've never played a Civilization game before, Civ IV makes a great place to start. Games play faster and aren't as complicated or bogged down as they were in Civilization III. The basic premise is that you control a culture from its humble prehistoric beginnings, building cities and advancing your society, gradually learning new technologies until you've replaced clubs and spears with tanks and nuclear missiles. You'll clash with other cultures and engage in trade or warfare. And you'll determine how your society is organized: its economy, its politics, even its position on religion. It sounds complicated, but one of the triumphs of Civilization IV is that despite its enormous scope, the interface is not hard to use. New players and Civ veterans alike should be happy with this one.

Greek cavalry prepares to launch an assault into Aztec lands...

The New World

Since the franchise started back in 1991, Civilization has developed legions of fans. Over the years the sequels have added new features but also new complexities. Civilization IV adds a few new tricks, but it also simplifies the core game, making it feel more like the original 1991 classic than its predecessor. The technology tree has been redone so that every tech means something substantial, and there are less units, making each civilization advance more important.

Civ IV's presentation is a big step up from earlier games. Everything is played out in full 3D, and you look at the tile grid straight on (instead of at the weird 45-degree slant of previous games). The whole game also comes alive with detail, from the little whitecaps on the ocean waves to the animation of tiny mine carts going into and out of mines. Civ IV also uses the same interface conventions as real-time strategy games, and it's much more intuitive. Nearly every important decision your civ needs to make can be done from the main screen, and icons for cities or units display all the info you need at a glance.

Another big change is the addition of religion. Various beliefs are discovered during the course of the game, and these beliefs spread from city to city and across cultures. The addition of religion doesn't dramatically change the game, but it presents you with a lot of interesting options with regards to diplomacy and cultural development.

The last huge change is multiplayer. Previous versions of the Civ games have taken stabs at it, but it always felt tacked on (if not outright broken). Not so with Civ IV. While it's still a little rough around the edges (see below), it actually works, and it works well. Players will find a whole new set of challenges when playing online.

Civilization IV performed fine on our test machines (which include both NVIDIA and ATI video cards), save for a couple of graphical artifacts that didn't impact gameplay. There's even widescreen support. However, readers on various forums around the net are reporting troubles with certain video drivers, especially with ATI cards. Firaxis is expected to release an update tonight addressing these issues.